Aly Spaltro estimates that 90 percent of her shows in the seven years she's been performing have been as a solo musician. The concert she's playing Monday in Burlington — as well as most of the gigs she has these days under her stage name, Lady Lamb — will be with a band.

"It's definitely been a bit of an adjustment because I'm so used to being on my own," the singer/guitarist told the Burlington Free Press by phone recently from her home in Brooklyn. "Now, actually, I'm so used to playing with my friends that when I play solo again I feel so much more vulnerable than I used to."

Vulnerable describes Spaltro's music well. When she performed at Higher Ground in South Burlington as the opener for Kaki King in December 2012, Spaltro was all alone on stage. Her voice was feral, her guitar work undisciplined but electrifying, and she revealed herself as an indie-rock star-in-the-making, one completely unafraid to put herself and her songs out there no matter how raw and personal.

She's 25 now, and Spaltro and her music are maturing. She took her time crafting the songs for her new album, "After." Her debut album, "Ripely Pine," featured songs Spaltro had been playing for years but hadn't worked out full-band arrangements for until she went into the studio. She wrote everything out at home first to make sure she was completely ready to record "After."

"There was a spontaneity, obviously, in the first one, not knowing what was going to come out of that," she said of the process of recording "Ripely Pine." For "After," though, the spontaneity came in those writing sessions at home. "I felt like I was going into the studio with exciting pieces I had already worked at and already had that sort of fun with."

"After" contains plenty of energetic rockers such as "Billions of Eyes" and "Dear Arkansas Daughter." Then Spaltro drops a song like "Ten," a vivid tribute to innocence that's fragile and haunting and devastatingly beautiful. All of her songs have dimension, dipping and diving like swooping birds of prey through turns in tempo. They demand that you listen to them and not just leave them on in the background.

Lady Lamb’s second album, “After,” was released March 3.(Photo: COURTESY)

Spaltro said her voice is growing less "untamed" and more mature. That maturity also comes through in the song structures on "After."

"It's kind of funny to admit, but for me writing a chorus is a challenge. It's not natural," she said. "So for this album I said, 'I'm going to write a chorus, see if I can write a really concise song.'"

As an example she cited the song "Heretic," which clocks in at an un-Lady Lamb-like four minutes and 15 seconds, begins with a drum solo and builds toward a catchy chorus. "I wanted to challenge myself in ways that come off as very simple," she said, "but for me it's harder to be more direct and concise than to meander for seven minutes."

Spaltro's growth is also reflected in her stage name. She and her band went by the more cumbersome Lady Lamb the Beekeeper when they last performed in Burlington at the end of 2013 at ArtsRiot.

"I've been going by Lady Lamb the Beekeeper since I was 18," she said. "As the years have gone on I've felt less and less attached to the full name and felt I really grew out of it."

Spaltro's return to Burlington will include a stay with friend Henry Jamison on her day off Easter Sunday. Jamison and fellow singer-songwriter Luke Rathborne will open Lady Lamb's show the next night at Signal Kitchen.

Spaltro and Jamison were friends while living in Maine. Spaltro's father was in the Air Force so she has lived in many places — New Hampshire, South Carolina, Arizona, Nevada and Germany included — but considers Maine the closest thing to home, which explains why the state's outline is tattooed on her left bicep.

Her peripatetic youth prepared her for the road-tripping ways of a traveling musician. "What it has done for me," she said, "is it has made touring feel so natural. The whole concept of going from place to place with a little amount of things and packing and unpacking your suitcase — I love that feeling."

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at 660-1844 or bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.